Over and Out!

We're about to load the truck and drive down to the wharf to load cargo.  We'll also try to find some spaces on the deck where we can spread out and get some rest on our overnight trip.  We should leave Honiara around 9 p.m. (4 a.m. CST) and arrive in Marulaon Village around 6 a.m. (1 p.m. CST).  Thanks so much for your prayers!

 

If the radio e-mail works, I will post on the blog.  If not, look for a whole lot of posts when we get back to Honiara in February!

Cue the William Tell Overture...

 

We swung by the Kosco office this afternoon while running errands.  I'm so glad we did.  The trip to Malaita scheduled for tomorrow night has been canceled, and now the ship is going our direction on Wednesday night.  We bought tickets. 

 

 

So now the William Tell Overture is running through my head, and my adrenaline has kicked in.  We should be leaving around 9 p.m. Wednesday night (around 4 a.m. CST, Wednesday morning).  It's so nice to know that people are praying us through each step:  packing, loading the ship, the overnight ride, the early morning unloading, and the readjusting to village life after nineteen months away.  Most likely, we won't have any communication except by radio.  Best case scenario would be radio e-mail works well and we measure our speed in cps (characters per second).  Twenty cps is a very good day!

Another reason to love home school...

...because you can sit outside under the palm trees and get help on your math while mama hangs out laundry.

And wear your tiara, too!

Cooking Rocks

Years ago, a teacher friend shared some fun recipes to help reinforce some science concepts.  Sarah and Benjamin are working their way through "Exploring Creation with Physical Science" this year, and this week they reviewed different types of rocks.  Perfect!  We made igneous rocks and sedimentary rocks thanks to some ingredients from care packages, but we didn't have the ingredients for metamorphic rocks. 

 



Igneous Rocks (cereal balls)

Air is trapped in the cereal much like air gets trapped in pumice when that molten rock cools quickly.  Melt 1/3 cup butter with a 10 oz. package of marshmallows.  Stir in 6 1/2 cups of crispy cereal.  If you teach mafic and felsic, use chocolate cereal and regular cereal.  Form mixture into balls and place on waxed paper.

Sedimentary Rock (layer bars)

Each ingredient represents a different layer of sediment.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a 13" by 9" pan, melt 1/2 cup of butter.  Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs over the butter.  Pour one can of sweetened condensed milk evenly over the crumbs.  Top with 1 cup chocolate chips, 1 1/3 cups coconut, and 1 cup chopped nuts.  Press down firmly.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Cut into bars.

 



Metamorphic Rock

Place 12 oz. of white chocolate bark and 12 oz. of chocolate chips in separate bowls.  Melt each in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.  Pour the white chocolate onto waxed paper, then swirl in the chocolate chips.  Refrigerate until hard.  Break into pieces to serve.

 



Goodbye again

Once again, it was time for our SITAG family to come out in full force and get a village team packed up and on the boat.  I'm so thankful that our kids get to be a part of something like this!  After a full morning of school and a quick lunch, we drove over to our friends' house to help load up the truck and to do whatever needed to be done.

 

 

Our friends had a list of things still to be done, and one of those was a trip to market to buy some fruits and veggies to take out to the village.  So we left Benjamin and Olivia with some SITAG uncles to stay with the truck until it went down to the wharf.  The rest of our family fought Honiara traffic to get to the market.  Can you see the traffic in the mirror?  Katherine needed a little rest, and she had plenty of time while we sat in traffic.

 



After we bought food, we drove back up to our friends' house and packed up the food, wiped out the fridge, and waited for word that the ship was on its way to the wharf.  Around 4 o'clock, another SITAG colleague called to say he could the ship chugging in, so we all began the descent to the wharf to help unload the truck.

 



Back in the SITAG van again, we followed the truck carrying boxes, a SITAG uncle, and all four of our kids.  Our cell phone rang while we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic.  It was our friends trying to catch the ship, and they were desperate for the woven mats in the back of the truck.  They needed to save their places on the boat.  Our ships don't have assigned seats, you just find a spot on the floor and spread out, hoping you have enough room to sleep!  So our amazing colleagues, who are always up for an adventure, decided that the mats would arrive at the wharf faster if they were hand carried!

 



So the SITAG uncle jumped out of the truck and ran with the mats all the way to the wharf.  (His behavior was acceptable in Solomon Island culture, don't worry!)  Our friends got their mats a little faster,

 



 

and when we arrived,we were able to sit with him to help hold their spots on the ship.  These guys were the "Three Musketeers" all day long, backing the big truck all the way down the wharf onto the ship, being on call the entire afternoon and evening, lending their muscles, chatting with the crowd at the wharf while we waited, doing whatever needed to be done. 

 

 

We anticipated the ship to leave late, so the families of the Three Musketeers decided to go grab a bite to eat (the first time our family has gone out to eat at night here), then come back to the wharf.  Just after we had ordered our food, the phone rang.  Our colleagues were calling to let us know that the ship had blown its whistle, and they would be pulling out soon.  We were shocked!  Katherine was in tears because she wanted to hug her friend one more time and say goodbye.  But we enjoyed the rest of our meal with the other two SITAG families.  On the way home, we needed to drive by the wharf to pick up the SITAG truck.  What did we find in addition to the truck?  Our friends' ship!!! 

 

Here is God's perfect timing in action.  Two hours after the first whistle blew, the ship was still at the wharf.  We quickly called our friends, and with the ship's crew standing at the front of the landing craft waiting to lift the front of the ship, we hugged one more time.  Seconds later, the ship began to pull away from the wharf, and we waved until we could no longer see our friends.  By the time we got home, it was way past time for bed, and everybody took quick showers and hopped into bed.  Just another "normal" day in the Solomon Islands.  Full of God's good gifts!

Pumpkin Dream Cake

 

 

 

Two lovely ladies have been busy in my kitchen for the last two afternoons after school. 

 

 

They've been making a pumpkin dream cake. 

 

 

I first saw the recipe on my friend's blog, then the recipe showed up again on "25 Pumpkin Desserts to Eat This Fall".  If this cake keeps showing up over and over, it must be good, right?!?  My family votes yes!

Kosco Update

Our ship out to Marulaon Village has been delayed, maybe until next weekend.  We're just practicing our flexibility around here!

Kastom Gaden Association

 

My adventure buddy and I drove out to the Kastam Gaden Association (KGA) this morning.  It was so much more than what we anticipated!  We were hoping to find some seeds and/or some seedlings to take out to our villages.  We found our seeds and plants, but we found a thriving education program as well.

 

 

We made a new friend, Thecla, who showed us around the gardens, helped us join the KGA, gave us free seeds, pinched off sorghum (above) because it's good to feed to chickens,

 

 

and pinched off dried marigold seeds because their are good to help keep pests away from the garden.  We picked up booklets about choosing and saving seeds, how to keep chickens for income & food, and natural ways to keep the gardens as pest free as possible.  We also learned that the KGA leads training seminars in villages if we provide food and a place to stay.  I will definitely be talking to my friends in Marulaon about this!  Next door, an organic farm had rows of different seedlings for sale.  While we waited to talk to someone in charge, we made new friends.

 

 

I was hoping to take home three flats (with 39 seedlings each), one of Chinese cabbage, one of tomatoes, and one of capsicum.  But we learned that the wooden flats have to come right back to the farm, so I only ended up with a handful of plants to take out to Marulaon Village.  But I learned so much today!  I'm excited to share what I learned with my friends in the village, and I think this is only the first of many trips to visit our new friends at the Kastam Gaden Association.

Baseball Games

While the Cardinals and the Red Sox battled it out back in the States, we had a fierce game of baseball in our front yard this afternoon.  Boys from three countries (America, Canada, and the Solomon Islands) mapped out a baseball diamond and roped Aaron and Chief Leonard into playing with them.  First base was at the top of our steps, where Aaron is standing.  To give perspective, I have to shift into first gear and gun the engine to get the car up the driveway.  It's pretty steep.

 



 

Caroline even jumped in and batted, but after running up those steps to first base, she decided that home was where she belonged on a Sunday afternoon!

 

Chief Leonard covered third base (the tree) like he had been playing baseball all of his life!  For several hours, I heard shrieks of laughter and cheers in three languages (Pijin, Lavukaleve, and English).  What a fabulous way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Morning Grumpies

-The boom of the bass notes began at 5:30 this morning.  A Saturday morning.  Somebody was throwing a BIG party just down the hill.

 

 

 

-All of our village sheets (five sets) trying to get dry on the porch because it has rained yesterday afternoon and all day today.

 

-Kosco has changed its schedule and we don't know when we'll be going out to Marulaon.  The uncertainty presents a challenge for me.

 

My morning grumpies began to change when I read:

 

"We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near;

men tell of your wonderful deeds."  Psalm 75:1

 

 

-Yummy pumpkin spice donuts that Sarah made for breakfast as we pretend it's Autumn here

 

-I found a bloggy friend who mirrored my own feelings.  Her insights about surrender gave me the kick in the pants I needed.

 

-The realization that we really could use a few more days to pack and that God's timing is always perfect!

 

-A phone call with a SITAG colleague.  By the time we finished chatting, this edifying friend had woven enough "telling of God's wonderful deeds" into the conversation that my whole attitude had changed.  I'm still amazed that praising God and reflecting on who He is makes my heart turn around 180 degrees and draws me near to Him.

Teeth stories

Benjamin in November 2006

With Katherine missing her two front teeth, we've been interested in what our Solomon Islands neighbors do when they pull teeth.  The Lavukal throw their teeth up on their leaf roof and sing a song (two notes, a minor third apart) to the geckos to bring the new tooth back quickly.  "Kokomita de ngoneo, nam nganeo"  (Gecko, take your tooth, give me my tooth.)

 

 

We asked some of our friends from different languages what they do with their teeth.  Some of them throw the teeth on the roof, too, but sing different songs, like to the rats or to the toads.  Our friends from Malaita told us they put the teeth in a banana tree where new fruit is growing.  Why?  I asked.  Because bananas grow fast, and you want your new tooth to grow in quickly, too.  I am amazed at the creativity and variety that exists among the different languages in the Solomon Islands!

All I want for Christmas...

 

 

 

 

The Choate crew was working in the kitchen preparing supper when Aaron came scurrying up the concrete steps and into the house hollering, "There's a rainbow outside!"  We all scrambled out the door and up the hill to our neighbor's porch to catch the lovely view.

 



We tried one of those new pumpkin recipes:  marbled chocolate pumpkin brownies.  It's a keeper!

 



Food is always more fun when it's shared.  So, we invited some friends over to eat and play 1000 Places to See Before You Die.  It was a great way to finish a Tuesday!